summoner
Hayama Kenji
Satou Keiichi
Takata Akira
In the near future humans will forget what it`s like to be in the nature. They will forget myths, legends, the past, they will forget the essence of life. The balance between the spirit worl... Home Twitter
- Unrated 1p6wq
In the near future humans will forget what it's like to be in the nature. They will forget myths, legends, the past, they will forget the essence of life. The balance between the spirit world and the human world as a result will crumble and spirits, in fear of extinction will have no choice, but to take the world over from humans. Here starts this show, in a crumbling world set in an urbanized city. A champion chosen by spirits originally to protect humans revolts against his destiny and takes his sword in hopes to bring humanity to extinction. His title is Karas, and his power is unmatched, as long as there is no other champion carrying the name of Karas to oppose him.
Karas is a surprisingly well made 6 episodes long OVA, strong both at its action and story sequences. Because the story this show tries to convey is far too big for 2:30 hours medium, it's cut to only the most important points, with barely any explanations. Though, unlike in many Gonzo shows, in Karas you can use your imagination and little hints to draw the whole setting and story (also pre-story) in your mind. On the other hand, even viewers who dislike to think while watching anime will enjoy this show - it's full of spectacular and extremely well animated action sequences. Even characters are surprisingly well done in this short OVA, as long as you catch all of the hints this show so carefully throws at you, you'll not only have everyone's detailed character traits in your head, but many back-stories as well. Hehe, I surely loved how this show managed to convey the past of many characters without using any flashbacks.
Karas comes with highest recommendations to anyone who are up for either some intense brain work or just simple pleasure from fascinating action scenes. Of course, you get the most enjoyment if you are up for both.
Animation: 9/10
One of the best animations I have ever seen to date. 3D/2D is blended perfectly, sometimes it's even hard to tell which parts are which. Fighting choreography is up par with best fighting shows as of late (though still nowhere near as good as in Final Fantasy: Advent Children). Really, the only not astounding aspect of the animation is some character designs, while Yurine, Karas and Eko are cool (just look at Yurine's hair being blown by wind, wow...), other, human, characters (like the detective) somewhat lack detail and at times even look slightly out of place in such detailed backgrounds.
Sound: 7/10
Really, quite a few exciting tracks here in this show. While there are none which I could call masterpieces, some are not only very good mood setters, but also are quite exciting as stand alone pieces. You wont be disappointed by sound effects either, not to even mention the obvious loud explosions and realistic gunshots, the best thing they've pulled out was the realistic sound, when swords grind and pierce iron stuff, like floors, walls and so on.
Voice-acting is pretty good considering all main characters were done by first timers. For some reason famous voice-actors like Mai Nakahara and Takahiro Sakurai only got villains or minor characters to act.
Story: 6/10
Karas would have been much better if it was as long as 13 episodes, but well, too bad. Anyway, the story is cut just to the most important plot points, so you'll have to use your head as best as you can to get what's going on at all. I even had to repeat a few scenes from the first episode after finishing the last one, to finally get a crystal clear vision of the story. It's not really that original - (Eko, the previous Karas, who was protecting "the city" for more than thousand of years, finally got sick of humans and decided to erase them. Of course, it isn't so simple since "the city" created another Karas'es to oppose him). However, great presentation and some stimulating brainwork certainly raised my scores up. Also, I really like the idea of urban city having the will of its own (that idea is much more explicit in Abe's masterpiece Texhnolyze).
Character: 6/10
It really doesn't feel that this show is as short as it is when you look at its characters. I know about them far more (from hints) than it would have been possible to show in such a short amount of time. Surely, this show proves that good characters not necessarily need hundreds of flashbacks and hours of careful development to become good. Though of course, "short show" characters still can't really compare to some of the best crews anime world has to offer (Seikai no Monshou, Berserk and Rurouni Kenshin TV instantly come to mind).
Not only it's short, it's confusing enough to make you watch it a second time. And if not for story, some action scenes, followed by nice music, are really tempting to be re-watched.
